Dustin Poirier‘s fight against Benoit Saint Denis at UFC 299 has been cancelled due to a lack of contractual agreement.
Well, looks like Dustin Poirier won’t be squaring off with Benoit Saint Denis at UFC 299. That’s a bummer.
He dropped the bomb on Twitter, saying, “my fight’s off but still working.” A bit cryptic, right? Folks close to both fighters were just as surprised as us. They had no clue the fight was off the table.
Poirier spilled a bit more tea in a message to MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani. The fight’s not happening, he said. No signed contract before the announcement, and they couldn’t agree on terms.
Now, it’s not unusual for UFC to announce fights before the paperwork’s done. It’s kinda their thing. Just last Wednesday, the UFC Atlantic City card lost its main event. Sean Brady, still nursing an injury, couldn’t face Vicente Luque.
Funny thing is, Brady never signed for the fight. Yet, UFC announced it anyway.
This ain’t Poirier’s first rodeo with such issues. Remember the Tony Ferguson fight at UFC 254? Poirier had to step down ’cause they couldn’t agree on a new contract.
UFC CEO Dana White had some words back then. Claimed Poirier didn’t want the fight, and they were moving on. “Negotiating yourself out of one is one of the ways you can do it,” he said.
In 2021, Poirier inked a new eight-fight deal with UFC. This was before his two fights with Conor McGregor. He’s had five fights under that deal, including a title fight against Charles Oliveira and bouts with Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler.
Unless he’s signed another extension, he’s got three fights left on his old contract. But renegotiating terms for certain matchups is pretty standard for UFC athletes. Poirier was set to face Saint Denis, who’s been on fire lately with five straight wins. But the guy’s not exactly top of the lightweight division.
Negotiations for the fight didn’t pan out. Now, Poirier’s got no plans to face Saint Denis at UFC 299 in March. So, that’s that.